This page replaces the old, unfinished “Ubu’s Anime Scoring System” that I never fully developed. I used to spend a lot of time dissecting every anime I watched, which was possible when I bought DVD’s and only watched a dozen episodes every two months. Now I’m watching 3-5 a week, and from fansubs, that means I’m getting them in episodic format, making a full review more difficult. By the time I’m ready to opine on the whole series, the next season is starting.
So I’m going to shortcut the huge matrix I was building for each series — if I can’t finish building the system, I’m not very likely to do any reviews based off it. So I’m going to simplify the hell out of things and stick with my original A-B-C-D-F system, with a + or – to express slight variations. So this is the grading system:
A – Top tier stuff, or I really, really liked it.
B – Minimum for full series re-watch value.
C – Good parts, bad parts, I might re-watch a few episodes.
D – Possible flashes of competence; it passed the time but I wouldn’t recommend it.
F – I am lesser for having graced this piece of crap with my attention span.
I may single out specific aspects of the show for praise or condemnation; specifically:
Art and Animation
Voice Acting/Dubbing
Plotting and Logic
Storytelling and Pacing
Characterization
Fanservice
Music
DVD/Packaging & Extras (or Fansub Quality)
Source material quality (if adapted)
And that’s it for now.